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Looks like you raised the light up, good move. If you are keeping the c02 levels sufficient with a side of appropriate fertilizer then you're bound for success. It's a great scape and that light looks more than bright, I am jealous! Goodluck!

Thanks for the compliment. I think my problems were more from having too much organic matter in the substrate. I had a similar problem in another tank where I consistently got BGA until I nuked it as well as residual algae. It was a low tech tank with not much light. I bleached the substrate their, had no issues, did it again here, hope I get the same results. If I had not already tried, I would have replaced the substrate.

I did raise the light quite a bit as well. I am hoping that the glosso will carpet at a lower light amount and I will adjust it down if need be. It's nice to have it this high as I often don't have any room lights on and this tank goes off pretty late at night.

I was about to bleach my glassware and just realized I used it all when bleaching the substrate. May have to wait until tonight. Not too concerned, the algae on the pipes had more than a few hours to dry out.

06-11-2013 07:45 PM

synaethetic

I 2nd the notion to clean your glassware. Let them soak in a diluted bleach solution overnight then rinse with hot water. You can do the same for the c02 diffusor. You will probably want to clean the tubes too, I'm assuming you have cleaned out your filter and media by now too.

Looks like you raised the light up, good move. If you are keeping the c02 levels sufficient with a side of appropriate fertilizer then you're bound for success. It's a great scape and that light looks more than bright, I am jealous! Goodluck!

06-11-2013 07:40 PM

talontsiawd

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn

Your glassware and heater looks to be in the same condition as it was in the old tank. Shouldn't you clean as much algae as you can off of those? Otherwise you'll just be reintroducing that algae to the tank again.

edit - oh, it looks like you already filled it up with water and put the glassware in - might be too late as far as introducing it then - but hey, can't hurt to start now, right?

I got a bit ahead of myself but yes, I should have bleached everything. I wasn't planning to plant last night but got excited. I actually plan to clean the filter out top to bottom as well.

06-11-2013 07:27 PM

Jahn

Your glassware and heater looks to be in the same condition as it was in the old tank. Shouldn't you clean as much algae as you can off of those? Otherwise you'll just be reintroducing that algae to the tank again.

edit - oh, it looks like you already filled it up with water and put the glassware in - might be too late as far as introducing it then - but hey, can't hurt to start now, right?

06-11-2013 07:19 PM

talontsiawd

Quote:

Originally Posted by OVT

Blah. Pictures or I'll have to come over.

via Droid DNA Tapatalk 2

I wasn't planning to update unless I started another journal but here you go. I don't like the layout quite as much as the last but the slope is taller and more defined which makes it look a bit more massive so it's give and take.

New plants are Glosso, HC, Micro Sward, DHG, and I have some Fissidens I plan to add in small patches. The coolest part is that almost none came up during filling/overnight

I am aware I have yet to clean my lily pipes and other, even the glass isn't totally clean.

Layout

Filled

06-11-2013 01:07 PM

OVT

Blah. Pictures or I'll have to come over.

via Droid DNA Tapatalk 2

06-11-2013 07:01 AM

talontsiawd

Quote:

Originally Posted by chew

Everyone struggles with aquariums at some point. I had a tank full of hair algae for months that I had to manually remove the algae from every other day. I hope you restart your journal; it is always nice to see people's struggles and then the success that they finally achieve. One thing that did help me was starting with just the plants and getting the co2 dialed in. I found it was a lot easier to worry about just the plants first and not have to worry about fauna. Good luck with your tank

I did restart to the same idea I had. I know the struggles of a planted tank but this just has been a hard road for me. I have successfully used the same light, plants, etc. I did decide to do a few thing differently though on restart. Not because I wanted to, because I felt I could do it better with less maintenance. Lets hope it works.

06-11-2013 05:31 AM

chew

Everyone struggles with aquariums at some point. I had a tank full of hair algae for months that I had to manually remove the algae from every other day. I hope you restart your journal; it is always nice to see people's struggles and then the success that they finally achieve. One thing that did help me was starting with just the plants and getting the co2 dialed in. I found it was a lot easier to worry about just the plants first and not have to worry about fauna. Good luck with your tank

06-11-2013 12:16 AM

talontsiawd

On a good note for me...bad note for the journal...if anyone is still following...tank is torn down.

I had really bad GSA. Every time I added old substrate (not rinsed), I got BGA immediately (within hours). I am totally convinced that BGA can remain dormant without any water, etc. I looked it up and though I couldn't find anything from fellow aquarists, I did find some scientific journals. I bleached my substrate and rocks, probably should have bought new substrate and I may today but I had the same problem in my nano and this worked.

Good news, I just finished my "new" layout, based 100% on my old one. It's not exact by any means and I like some of it better, some not but these are all the rocks I have now (I think, I may have like 3 more). I will start a new journal soon, off to AFA in a few. Need a few drinks before hand (fiance is driving) so I make sure I impulse buy a few things HAHA.

If people want me to start a new journal, let me know. This one was incredibly boring so I may take pics as I go and wait until it works out, or never tell you guys it didn't

05-30-2013 02:37 AM

talontsiawd

To add to my last post, here are some pictures. Looking kind of rough lol. We will see where this goes. That's probably why I don't update much.

05-29-2013 07:49 PM

talontsiawd

Non photo update...I am just struggling with this tank. My brown algae cleared, only to get a lot of green dust/green slime algae. I also got hit with some BGA again but I am totally convinced this stuff can remain dormant without water as every time I have added old substrate that had BGA in it, I get it within 24 hours badly. BGA is gone now, just green algae.

I am having some trouble with my HC melting at the base. I am thinking that it may just be algae choking it out but I would appreciate some advice. It is perfectly healthy on the top parts but melts at the bottom. Every time I do maintenance, I loose about 10-25%. Basically, my tank is starting to regress. I did make a thread here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=343162

I have removed all live stock so I can up my CO2 well above what would be reasonable with livestock. Sort of my last resort. Any advice would be fantastic as I am about to give up. I will likely add a photo update later on this week.

05-09-2013 05:28 PM

talontsiawd

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechristophershow

Thanks for the info. But what makes you attribute your tank problems to the substrate?

I actually don't know what the problem is on this tank still trying to figure it out. I just didn't want you to discount any interest because it's a very attractive substrate I have really liked to use over the years, especially in black.

05-09-2013 03:56 AM

thechristophershow

Quote:

Originally Posted by talontsiawd

Substrate is a combination of Flourite Black, Flourite Black Sand and Petco black sand. I haven't had good luck with it on this tank but most of it is about 5 years old.

HC is just how we short hand the species of plant Hemianthus callitrichoides. It is also known as Dwarf Baby Tears.

Thanks for the info. But what makes you attribute your tank problems to the substrate?

05-09-2013 03:27 AM

talontsiawd

Probably should update as well. I have had just about every type of algae now. I had this weird brown algae that almost looked like mulm. Never had it before, I really doubt it was just mulm but maybe. The bottom parts of the HC started to rot a bit. So, I was getting decent growth but the bottom yellowed. I tried to remove it by siphon and by just stirring up the substrate which worked but my HC would float up. I finally added some more substrate to hold down what was their. I have a bit of it left and some regular green spot algae. Will take pics at some point.

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